


Ugly Sweaters and Traditions

by BeTheCasToMyDean



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Language, Self-Doubt, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 00:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21109505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeTheCasToMyDean/pseuds/BeTheCasToMyDean
Summary: Pairing - Dean Winchester x ReaderRating - PG-13Beta - @winecatsandpizzaWord Count - 3.1kWritten for - @kittenofdoomage's Canon Christmas ChallengePrompt - Mistletoe





	Ugly Sweaters and Traditions

“Hey Y/N, Hey Dean.”

Sam waltzed into the Bunker’s library with a spring in his step that had both you and his elder brother flashing him questionable looks. He took a seat at the head of the table, opening his laptop in front of him. Dean raised an eyebrow at you and you shrugged, letting him know that you too had no idea what was going on either. 

“What’s up with you, Sammy?

Sam peeked over the top of his laptop at you and his brother before going back to typing. 

“Yeah, you’re uh… oddly happy today….”

The younger Winchester rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. 

“So, get this! I think I found us a case!”

That got Dean’s attention, a smile lighting up his face as he tipped the neck of his beer towards him. 

“Atta boy, Sammy! I knew it was only a matter of time before we’d get back to the grind. What about you, Y/N? You excited to gank somethin’ or what?”

You smiled and got up to go stand behind Sam. He had an article pulled up, and it looked to be about a Christmas tree farm. Dean had since joined you, his brows furrowing as he took another swig of his drink.

“Uhh, Sam, I’m thrilled you wanna get back out there but don’t ya think this is just a case of some teenage punks or somethin’?” 

Sam turned to give his brother his best bitch face, but you weren’t tuned into that. Even as they argued, you scanned the article getting more intrigued by the second. Once you realized that Sam had a case, you turned excitedly to Dean. 

“Hey, Dean!”

He held up a finger indicating that you wait a moment, and you tapped your foot impatiently. 

“Dean! Would you ju-”

He sighed heavily and turned to you, clearly annoyed.

“Y/N, I can only argue with one person at a time, and right now it’s Sam’s turn.”

He turned back to Sam before you could respond. Well, they may have been fighting like an old married couple, but you were used to it considering you grew up with two older brothers. Placing your index and middle fingers into your mouth, you let out an ear-splitting whistle taking them both by surprise. 

“Hey! Rocky and Bullwinkle! Quit bickering for a second and hear me out would ya?!”

Sam ran a hand through his hair, still clearly annoyed with his older brother, while Dean dug a finger into his ear moving it around vigorously. 

“Now that I have your undivided attention, Dean, I think I am going to have to go with Sam on this one. It does, in fact, look like there’s a case here.”

You didn’t miss the smug ‘I told you so’ look Sam shot Dean, but instead of commenting on it, you decided to continue explaining.

“I scanned through the article, and it looks like over half of the tree farm is plagued with dead trees. At first, I was thinking some kid threw a lit cigarette or something and caused the whole lot to go up in flames. Then, I had another thought. Remember how Rowena stole the Book of the Damned? What if she’s using the book to draw on some bad mojo to build a coven or something? I mean, it's worth checking out. If it's nothing, then all we've lost is some gas and we got to have a good ole fashion road trip,” 

You smiled, crossing your arms and stretching your legs onto the table.

“Yeah, we've never had any of those,” 

Dean mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

Standing up, Sam made the final call, 

“So it's settled. We leave at dawn.”

The rest of the day was a whole lot of cleaning weapons and packing bags. Even though keeping the guns clean was tedious, it still was exciting that you would get to hunt with your favorite hunters again. If you were being at all honest with yourself, you were most excited to see Dean in action again. The passion he exuded lit a fire inside you that had yet to be extinguished. You’d had a thing for him the moment your eyes locked with his green ones. Of course, you couldn’t tell him. He would most certainly reject you, and more importantly, you didn’t want to make things weird. Sighing, you zipped your duffel bag and set it next to your bedroom door before crawling beneath your covers. 

A few hours later your alarm went off making you groan. No matter how many hunts you went on you’d never become a morning person. Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you got up and pulled on a pair of jeans. You slid a black cami with a red and white flannel over your torso before stepping into your combat boots. Instead of taking the time to brush your hair, you decided just to half-ass it by running your fingers through it. It was bound to get ratty before long anyway and it wasn't like you were trying to impress anyone or anything. 

You walked into the Bunker’s garage just as Dean was stuffing his bag into Baby’s trunk. 

“Morning, Dean. Mind if I grab some coffee before we head out? I’m gonna need something if we’re gonna take on that red-headed annoyance today.”

Right on cue, Sam came out with three to-go mugs filled to the brim with your favorite brew. 

“Did someone say they needed some fuel?”

You took one of the cups from him and relished in the warmth flowing through your hands before taking a small sip.

“Oh god, this is better than sex, I swear.”

Sam nodded in agreeance as he slid in the passenger seat. Dean opened the back door for you and you smiled warmly. 

“Y/N, if you think that’s better than sex, then you’ve clearly never been with a man.”

He winked at you as you rolled your eyes. 

“Whatever, Winchester. Let’s get going, times a-wastin.'”

A couple of hours later, Dean pulled the Impala into a deserted parking lot. He killed the engine and the three of you walked to the front door of the little shop. A bell on the door chimed as you walked in, the shop owner looked up surprised before setting his newspaper down. 

“Hello there folks! I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we’ve kind of stopped business until further notice. There’s been a mishap with our trees.”

Dean nonchalantly walked around the little store looking at the different Christmas themed gifts. Sam took the other half of the store, making sure to check for hex bags without looking too suspicious. That left you to question the owner. 

“What kind of mishap, sir?”

The man scratched his head and reached for a manila folder. 

“Well, something weird has been happening to our trees. I think it’s some kind of superbug or something because I don’t know what insect can survive in this weather. It’s killing our trees, and until we can figure it out, we can’t sell any more live ones.”

He passed you the photos as he continued to talk. 

“So far, half of the lot is either dead or dying. I’m afraid we’ll be put out of business before long.”

Christmas was your favorite time of year, and you’d never had a real tree. You longed for one, but your parents never wanted to put up with the mess. It pained you to see that this man was about to lose everything he worked so hard for, and possibly at the hands of Rowena of all people.

“Listen, sir, we’re members of the Grand Spruce Christmas Tree club and I think we can help you save your trees.”

The man looked hopeful and let out a relieving laugh.

“You really think you can help? Oh, that would be awesome! Oh! How rude of me, I didn’t introduce myself! My name is Wayne. Wayne Hargrove, and you are?”

He held out his hand to you, and you grasped it firmly. 

“My name is Y/F/N Y/L/N, and these are my partners Sam and Dean Winchester.”

You pointed each of them out and they waved awkwardly. The four of you headed to the back part of the property where the trees were kept. As soon as they came into view you could see the damage. Nearly half of the lot was littered with tree needles, the branches dried up and pathetic looking. Your heart clenched as you looked at Wayne’s sad expression. You could tell he took pride in his business, and you were determined to get to the bottom of things. 

“Well, folks, here it is. I looked at all the trees and couldn’t find the culprit. I’m hoping you guys will have better luck seeing as you’re experts on this sort of thing. At least, that’s what Y/N told me.”

The brothers gave you a surprised look making you laugh nervously.

“Yep! We uhh… we’ll take a look and come back with what we find.”

Wayne walked away as Dean narrowed his eyes at you. 

“What the hell was that, Y/N?!”

“Oh cool it, Dean!”

You spat right back to him without missing a beat. Sam put his hands between you two, trying his best to be a mediator. 

“Calm down, both of you. Look, let’s just split up and try to find the solution. Fighting is going to get us nowhere.”

You huffed and took your pistol out of the back of your jeans. Racking it back making one of the rounds to fill the chamber, you raised an eyebrow. 

“I know what I’m doing, Dean. Believe me, this isn’t my first rodeo.”

You walked away before he could say anything, leaving him fuming. Sam patted his older brother on his shoulder trying his best to calm him down. 

“Listen, Dean. She’s trying okay. You gotta trust that she knows what she’s doing. I mean, the training wheels gotta come off some time, man.”

Dean seemed to relax a little, but the anger was still in his voice as he walked in the opposite direction that you’d gone. 

“Yeah, well, if something happens to her Sammy then it’s on me.”

Sam rubbed his temples and sighed before walking down the middle of one of the dead tree patches. Everyone had loaded their guns with witch killing bullets as a precautionary measure. Dean and his signature M1911A1 with the ivory grips, Sam with a black sawed-off shotgun, and you with your 9mm Beretta. 

At first, nothing out of the ordinary stood out. The only thing that could be heard was the occasional stick breaking or a bird chirping. Sam texted you saying neither he or Dean found anything. You were about to text back saying the same, but something stopped you. Looking up, you saw a circular cluster of odd-looking leaves nestled in the side of one of the trees. It took you a moment, but eventually, you recognized them. 

“ **Mistletoe** ! That’s it!”

You texted Sam and Dean as quick as you could while reaching up to tear the branch off. Moments later the boys came jogging over to you. Confusion spread across their faces as you held the plant out to them. 

“Uhh, I don’t get it.”

Dean scrunched up his nose as he passed the bundle of leaves over to Sam. 

“I’m not sure what you’re wanting us to see, Y/N. This isn’t something that would be useful to a witch.”

You laughed and shook your head. 

“That’s just it though. This isn’t a case. Well, it is, but it’s not  _ our  _ type of case. That right there is what you call mistletoe. You do know what that is right?”

Sam nodded and handed it back to you and Dean rolled his eyes before making yet another snide remark. 

“Yeah, that’s the plant that Christmas freaks kiss under for their stupid traditions.” 

Your eyes narrowed while Sam cleared his throat. 

“Thanks for that Dean, but do you know what else it’s known for?”

They both shook their heads and you smiled, clearly excited that you’d figured this one out on your own. 

“Mistletoe is also parasitic! That’s the reason Wayne’s trees are dying. The plant feeds off of other living plants, so all he would have to do is remove the affected trees and cut the infected limbs of the dying ones. Everything should be back to normal once he does that.”

The brothers stared at you like you’d grown a third eye and you shrugged. Sam was the first to speak up.

“How do you know all of this, Y/N?”

You started walking back to Wayne’s shop, Sam and Dean on either side of you. 

“What can I say, plants are sort of a hobby of mine. I kind of always wanted to be Botanist when I was growing up.”

After you told Wayne what the culprit was, the three of you headed back to the Bunker. The ride home was quiet, save for the low rumble of the Impala and Metallica’s second album flowing from the speakers. Your mind went back to what Dean said about Christmas traditions. He didn’t seem all the thrilled about the holiday, and you wondered if he’d like your gifts. He’d without a doubt, like the bottle of whiskey, but you were unsure about the ugly sweater. It was red, white, and black with symbols related to Christmas on it. You’d bought Sam one too, and you were sure he’d at least wear it for the occasion. 

It had been years since you’d spent this time of year with your family. You’d signed that away the moment you became a hunter. Going home for the holidays would put your loved ones in danger and you couldn’t risk doing that. The Winchesters were the closest thing you had to family now, and it was only natural to want to do these traditions with them too.

Back at the Bunker you grabbed your bag without a word and shut the door to your room. With Christmas only days away, your nerves were getting the best of you. Should you even bother giving the presents to the boys? It didn’t seem like they even celebrated, and you hadn’t asked. With a heavy sigh, you kicked your shoes off and settled under your covers. 

Unbeknownst to you, Sam took notice of how Dean’s remark affected you. He pulled his brother aside as a plan began to form in his mind.

“Hey, Dean, I’ve been thinking…”

Dean smirked, taking a seat in the library once more. 

“Don’t hurt yourself, Sammy.”

“Dean, I’m serious! Okay, so you know how Y/N like Christmas? I mean, I know we don’t really celebrate it, but I was thinking we could do it just this once. I know it would mean a lot to her, and I really think you would like it too.”

Dean took a long pull from his beer, propping his feet on the table. 

“Sammy, I don’t know… We don’t have any decorations, a tree, and we haven’t even bought her anything.”

The younger Winchester ran a hand through his hair, walking towards the stairs.

“Where are you going, Sam?”

“I’m going to get us some decorations, Dean. We are doing this for her. She deserves it.”

A few days later, you woke up, forgetting it was Christmas morning. Without a care in the world, you padded down the hallway in your pajamas. You rounded the corner and gasped. There, next to the map table was the most beautifully decorated Christmas tree you’d ever seen. There were only a couple of presents underneath it, but that didn't matter to you. Red and green garland wrapped neatly around the staircase and the smell of cookies wafted to you from the kitchen. Sam walked into the room grinning as he carried a tray filled with eggnog and Christmas treats.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

“Sam! This is amazing! Did you do all this?!”

Dean leaned against the doorway of the library and grinned at your enthusiasm. 

“Not all of it, just the tree and this tray of treats. Everything else was Dean.”

“That’s right, sweetheart. I know a thing or two about decorating. Just don’t like to flaunt it, that’s all.”

You hugged each of them before remembering their gifts. 

“Oh! I have presents for you! Wait here while I go and get them!”

You scurried down the hallway and grabbed the wrapped boxes, one blue and one red. Back in the map room, you set the blue one in front of Sam and the red one went to Dean. They tore them open revealing a bottle of whiskey and an ugly sweater for each of them. Sam put his on right away and enveloped you in a hug. 

“I love it, Y/N! Thank you so much!”

You beamed up at him and turned to Dean expectantly. 

“So, what do you think? Do you like it?” 

Dean gave you a lop-sided smile and slid the sweater over his head. After adjusting it, he stood and held out his arms. 

“You tell me, Y/N. How do I look?”

You looked him up and down, your arms crossed over your chest. 

“You could never look bad in anything, Dean, and you know it.”

Sam handed you a present and watched you open it. It was an aroma bath set you’d been looking at when they were at one of the local department stores. 

“Oh, Sam! Thank you so much! This is perfect, and I can’t wait to use it!”

Dean grasped your wrist lightly, turning you towards him. The way he was looking at you was different than he’d ever looked at you before. 

“I also have something for you, Y/N.”

You nodded as he led you to the doorway of the Bunker’s library. He stopped and ran his hands down your arms making you shiver. 

“Dean, I... I don’t understand... “

His finger pressed gently against your lips. You watched as he looked up, and you mirrored him. Surprise laced your features for the second time that morning. There, hanging from the top of the doorframe, was a big piece of mistletoe complete with little red berries. He smiled down at you, looking into your eyes before slowly leaning in. Your eyes closed moments before his soft lips pressed against your own. They molded perfectly with yours, sending shocks of electricity through your body. 

“Finally! That has been a long time coming!”

The two of you turned to see Sam’s smug look as he poured himself a glass of eggnog. Dean kissed your temple and wrapped an arm around your waist. 

“Merry Christmas, Y/N”

“Merry Christmas, Dean”

You looked up at his smiling face. This indeed was the best Christmas of your life, and you couldn’t wait to spend many more with your two favorite men.


End file.
